![]() ![]() The partnership leverages the Carnegie Institution’s computer-vision tools and the University of Queensland’s data on local conditions, including coral, algae, sand, and rocks. ![]() That’s trillions of pixels raining down daily, which could never be transformed into useful maps without AI algorithms trained to interpret them. As Andrew Zolli, a Planet vice president, explains: For the first time in history, “new tools are up to the level of the problem.”īy the end of 2017, Planet deployed nearly 200 satellites, forming a necklace around the globe that images the entire Earth every day down to 3-meter resolution. On June 4, Paul Allen Philanthropies revealed a partnership with the Carnegie Institution of Science, the University of Queensland, the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, and the private satellite company Planet to map all of the world’s coral reefs by 2020. The new conservation formula is also spilling into the oceans. Using GFW’s mobile app, Forest Watcher, volunteers and forest rangers take to the trees to verify the automated alerts in places like the Leuser Ecosystem in Indonesia, which calls itself “the last place on Earth where orangutans, rhinos, elephants and tigers are found together in the wild.” 1 The algorithms analyze satellite imagery as it’s refreshed to detect “patterns that may indicate impending deforestation,” according to the organization’s website. Global Forest Watch (GFW), a conservation project established by World Resources Institute, began offering monthly and weekly deforestation alerts in 2016, powered by AI algorithms developed by the University of Maryland. Others are applying these techniques around the world. The result is a near-real-time readout of Earth’s vital signs, firing off alerts and alarms whenever the ailing patient takes a turn for the worse. The combination of high-resolution imaging and sensor technologies, AI, and cloud computing is giving conservationists deeper insight into the health of the planet. Earlier this year, Chesapeake Conservancy began working with conservation groups in Iowa and Arizona to develop training sets for the algorithms specific to those landscapes. The Urban Forestry Administration in Washington, DC, has used the new map to determine where to plant trees by searching the district for areas without tree cover where standing water accumulates. ![]() Eventually, the map will offer “live dashboards” and automated alerts to serve as a warning system when new development threatens to overwhelm stormwater management capacity. Allenby notes that paved surfaces and rooftops in Ellicott City reached 19 percent in recent years.Īllenby says the more detailed map will enable planners to keep up with land-use changes and plan drainage systems that can accommodate more water. At 20 percent, runoff doubles, compared with undeveloped land. The Center for Watershed Protection, a nonprofit based in Ellicott City, reported in a 2001 study that when 10 percent of natural land gets developed, stream health declines and it begins to lose its ability to manage runoff. “Looking at these systems with the power of AI can start to show when a watershed” is more likely to flood, he says. To understand the difference, imagine trying to identify an Uber driver on a crowded city street using a map that can only display objects the size of a Walmart.ĭetailed, up-to-date information is paramount when it comes to designing stormwater management systems, Allenby says. The map, generated from aerial imagery with the help of artificial intelligence, shows objects as small as 3 feet square, roughly 1,000 times more precise than the maps that flood planners previously used. Recently, Allenby developed another tool to help predict, plan, and prepare for future floods: a first-of-its-kind, high-resolution map showing what’s on the ground-buildings, pavement, trees, lawns-across 100,000 square miles from upstate New York to southern Virginia that drain into Chesapeake Bay. ![]() Just days before the May 27 flood, the US Department of Homeland Security selected Ellicott City-on the basis of its 2016 flood-for a pilot program to deliver better flood warnings to residents via automated sensors. But Allenby says the floods are getting worse, as development covers what used to be the “natural sponge of a forest” with paved surfaces, rooftops, and lawns. Yet, “it’s the second time it’s happened in the last three years,” says Jeff Allenby, director of conservation technology for Chesapeake Conservancy, an environmental group.įloods are nothing new in Ellicott City, located where two tributaries join the Patapsco River. The National Weather Service put the probability of such a storm at once in 1,000 years. On May 27, a deluge dumped more than 6 inches of rain in less than three hours on Ellicott City, Maryland, killing one person and transforming Main Street into what looked like Class V river rapids, with cars tossed about like rubber ducks. ![]()
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